Real Estate, Risk & Climate Change: A Global View

Despite growing worldwide concern about the impact of climate change, real estate investors are apparently still more likely to have policies in place to address other kinds of hazards.
According to the 2014 Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark survey, environmental hazards are most likely to be the subject of a dedicated

Despite growing worldwide concern about the impact of climate change, real estate investors are apparently still more likely to have policies in place to address other kinds of hazards.

According to the 2014 Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark survey, environmental hazards are most likely to be the subject of a dedicated assessment. In Europe, for example, 83 percent of respondents report a policy of reviewing environmental hazards for existing assets.

Regulatory issues, too, command attention; assessing potential risks is a policy for 85 percent of survey participants from Australia/New Zealand, 82 percent from Asia and 75 percent based in Europe, plus 61 percent in North America.

By comparison, global policies tied to assessing climate-change list have some catching up to do. Just 42 percent of participating companies based in North America said they have such policies, comparable to 45 percent in Asia and 43 percent in Europe. The notable exceptions are Australia and New Zealand, where a combined 74 percent of real estate investors report a strategy to address climate change.

For more about the real estate industry’s response to climate change, be sure to read “Rising Tide” in the April issue of CPE.